1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to cleaning apparatus and more specifically, to apparatus for cleaning vehicle windows.
2. Description of the Art
Various tools are available to clean the exterior surface of vehicle windows. Such tools typically include a handle and a perpendicularly oriented cleaning element, such as a wiper blade, sponge rubber pad and combinations thereof. Water or ammonia based cleaning fluid is applied to the exterior surface of the vehicle window and scraped off by the tools to remove debris. Such tools are easy to use on the exterior surface of vehicle windows since the exterior surface of the vehicle windows is easily accessible both to apply cleaning fluid to the windows and to remove the fluid and debris from the windows.
However, such tools are ineffective in cleaning the inner surface of vehicle windows. The extreme angles of the vehicle windshield and backlight with respect to the dashboard and rear seat shelf in conjunction with adjacent vehicle components, such as the rear view mirror, steering wheel and rear, center brake light housing make it difficult to get the edges of a cleaning tool close to the extreme lower edges of the windshield and backlight. In addition, applying fluid, which is typically in the form of a spray, to the inner surfaces of the windshield and backlight results in a significant amount of the spray being deposited on the underlying horizontal surfaces adjacent to the windows, such as the vehicle dashboard and the rear shelf.
Thus, the most common implements used to clean the inner surfaces of vehicle windows are sponges, rags and paper towels. Manual force is exerted through the user's hands to manually apply cleaning fluid and/or spray to the inner surface of the windows and then to manipulate the cleaning element in a back and forth or circular motion across the surface of the windows. While a user may be able with a considerable amount of effort to clean most of the inner surface of the vehicle window, it is still difficult to completely clean the edges of the window and, more importantly, the lower edges of a vehicle windshield and backlight.
A variety of tools have been devised specifically to clean the inner surfaces of vehicle windows. Such tools are typically formed of a pad which is connected to an elongated handle. A cleaning element is attached to one side of the pad by various means including clips, straps, or hook and pile fasteners. However, each of these tools is specifically devised for a single type of cleaning operation, such as scrubbing or drying, but not both.
While such tools improve the reach of the user, it is believed that further improvements can be made to make the cleaning apparatus easier to use, to provide easily detachable and interchangeable mounting of different shaped pads to the handle, as well as to provide easy replacement of wet, soiled cleaning elements. It is also believed that such cleaning apparatus can be improved by providing a system approach in which multiple, different cleaning elements for scrubbing, washing and drying windows or other surfaces are interchangeably mountable on a single handle, or preferably, a plurality of different shaped handles thereby adapting the cleaning system of the present invention to many different applications.